Made it to California

Hope everyone had a nice Thankgiving. I made it to California. My luggage did too, but it took a while because the baggage handling sytem broke. I guess you have to go to the third world to avoid third world airline service. Tonight, I leave for Bangkok, with a layover in Taipei. The San Francisco to Taipei flight usually takes about 14 hours. It's a flight so brutal that you almost don't mind the Taipei airport when you finally get off the plane. It's pretty much the worst major airport in the world. You might think you could at least get some decent Chinese food there, but that's not the case. I guess the only amenity is that you don't have to worry about Republican politians soliciting gay sex in the men's room. There is no toe tappping or wide stances in the Taipei Airport.

For now, though, I have 12 hours to spend in the Bay Area with my sister. That gives me plenty of time to do a little repacking and pay my bills. I didn't have time to do my bills before I left Colorado. In fact, I didn't have time to invoice my clients or even finish all my work. I hate when I have to face the dilemma of which work to not finish. In this case, I chose to finish the work for the client with no other mechanical engineers on the project. Of course, even that work isn't finished. I still have to negotiate with vendors and there was some shipping that I had to leave to my roommate. It's been a really rough three months, and I really need this break. Not that travel in India is particularly relaxing, but at least I'll be working less than 12 hours a day.